Wayward Devil
by Wellsy71
Summary: Sequel to "The Devil's Bodyguard." Months had passed since the end of the war, but Devil still remains. However, it's not the only thing that Nina has to deal with. Family, Devil and the possible resurrection of Jin Kazama are just a few of those as war threatens to rise again. Rated M for future dark themes, violence and language.
1. Prologue Mark of the Devil

A/N: Hey, I'm back and with the sequel to "The Devil's Bodyguard." I know it's been a while, but with university and other things it's just hard to find time to write. If you haven't read my previous fic, then I highly recommend that you go back and read it or otherwise you're going to get confused. A big thank you to Ragnarok666, as they have given me some insight and some ideas for this fic and I'm sure that I'll utilise them with ideas from others and my own ideas to come up with another story. Enjoy :D

Disclaimer: The characters and anything related to Tekken are the property of Namco.

* * *

**Prologue- Mark of the Devil**

_Three months ago..._

_Her slender body was laid upon that cold metal slate, confined within a massive tube-like machine as it scanned her body. Three months had passed since Azazel disappeared from the world, and the Devil Gene was supposed to go with the beast. However, the curse still existed in the body of one woman._

_Originally, Nina thought that it would take some time for Devil to leave her body and die. Days turned to weeks, then weeks turned to months and the mark was still evident on her right forearm. This wasn't how things were meant to turn out. Jin sacrificed himself to rid the world of the curse that plagued the Mishima bloodline, and of Azazel, the one who had threatened to destroy the planet. In the end, there were still questions that had to be asked..._

_Was his death in vain? What good had it done if the world was left in destruction and Nina was left with the curse?_

_The clean-up campaigns around the world were all travelling soundly, with the expectation of them being completed within a couple of months. No word had risen about any activity from the G-Corporation, who had gone quiet since the end of the war. Nina figured that they were rebuilding their numbers and she was prepared to fight again if they dared to oppose the Zaibatsu. Of course both Kazuya and Anna had survived the fight at Azazel's temple, the media had been swarming around, like a bad pest, in attempt to get information from both organisations. In the footage, her sister was seen alive and well with Kazuya in attempt to escape the reporters as they headed into Millennium Tower._

_Nina never noticed the bright lights being switched off as she had her eyes closed the entire time, but opened them once the sound of moving gears rang through her ears. The cold metal slate slowly emerged from out of the body-scanner and revealed her form, only clad in her black undergarments, to the outside. She cringed as the stinging of the lights of Boskonovitch's laboratory impaled at her sapphire blue eyes, as if sand was being rubbed into them._

_She really needed to stop ending up having to be scanned, it was just like that time after the third tournament when she first attempted to get her memories back. To stare up at the faces of the elderly doctor and Anna while she was lying there scantly dressed was less than ideal, in Nina books at least. But still, the former assassin had to do what she had to do in hopes to finding an alternative means to rid herself of this curse. Never in her life had Nina thought she would end up being like a laboratory rat, continuously tested upon until a solution was found. It was only until the good doctor himself appeared in her field of vision that she allowed her thoughts to be spoken._

_"How many more of these tests did you say that I would have to do through?" the blonde woman asked as she squinted, the bright lights above her stung her eyes. Instinctively, she raised her arm and covered her eyes._

_Boskonovitch laughed lightly, sensing the woman's frustration. It was hard for him to determine how much longer that Nina would have to be subjected to the extensive battery of tests. He did feel sorry that she had to go through this, but there was no other way around the issue._

_"Hard to say at this point," the elderly man responded. "It will be a matter of weeks, or even months before we find something."_

_Nina rolled her eyes and sat up slowly. She swung her legs over the edge and looked down at her bare arms, to where uncharacteristic dark bruises formed down near her elbows and forearms. For three months, she had been scanned, poked and prodded to the point where she became a human pin cushion and her eyes began to have dark circles form underneath due to a lack of sleep. Devil was constantly in her sub-conscious, taunting her from just below the surface, attempted to get her to just give up and accept that she was stuck with that curse._

_At one point, she did come close to succumbing to the wish of Devil. However, it was Steve that told her not to lose hope, that there was a way to defeat the evil power that was planted inside of her. He found her one night in her office, furniture turned over and the entire room looked like a warzone. The former boxer saw his mother in the middle of the darkness, clearly visible as her eyes glowed a deep red and markings started to appear up her arms._

_It was the soft voice of a son that made a mother break away from the dark binds of Devil and return to her mortal self. That night, continued to plague Nina and she just wanted to get to the answer and put an end to it._

_"You will have to excuse me for being impatient," she apologised and stepped down, grabbing the robe that the doctor held out to her and shrugged into it. "I just want to get to the bottom of this, and soon before somebody gets hurt."_

_Boskonovitch nodded sincerely and flicked through a clipboard._

_"Well, we're starting to make some steady progress," he replied and looked at her. "We know that Devil is stable within your body and isn't likely to pose any threat any time soon. But I am curious, however..."_

_"Curious about what?"_

_"I'm wondering about what triggered that episode a while ago. Tell me, did you experience any distressing dreams or thoughts that night?"_

_Truth be told, the former assassin couldn't remember what triggered Devil to take hold of her body. All she could remember was the voice chanting and taunting within the confines of her mind, feeling Devil struggle out of the chains that bound him within the prison that was her body. Then afterwards, her consciousness woke in the arms of Steve, who then contacted Boskonovitch immediately and informed him of what happened._

_Then the scans and tests soon followed..._

_"No, I can't remember anything," Nina replied as she shook her head. "It's just like when I woke up from cryosleep a few years ago. But, Jin did say to me that he couldn't remember anything after his transformations."_

_Boskonovitch hummed to himself, tapping a fragile finger to his chin._

_"Hmm, I wonder...perhaps this form of amnesia, is a side-effect of the transformations," Boskonovitch hypothesised. "Maybe Devil has managed to suppress whatever thoughts had triggered him to awaken deep back into your unconscious thoughts."_

_"So what do you propose we do about it?"_

_"I don't know yet, but at least now we have a new path to look into."_

_Nina rolled her eyes, she knew what this had meant._

_"Let me guess, more tests and scans?"_

_The elderly doctor nodded sincerely._

_"I'm afraid so, my dear. But I think you've had enough for today," he suggested. "Go back to your quarters and rest, I'm sure that your son will be able to handle those meetings on his own."_

_The woman chuckled lightly and turned her back to him._

_"Well I do hold some faith in his abilities," Nina replied and glanced back over her shoulder. "But for the time being, these are matters that I wish to deal with personally."_

_The scientist was about to reply, but Nina had already started to walk towards the exit. A loud sigh passed through his lips and he scratched the back of his head, the former assassin no longer in visual field._

_'That poor woman, how she ever got herself into this mess will forever remain a mystery to me.'_

* * *

_Present Day  
November 30th 2008  
Location: Nina Williams' Private Villa (outside Tokyo)  
Time: 0645hrs_

Toned arms burned with each thrusting motion, legs snapped quickly as a well aimed kick was thrown at her opponent. Her male training partner managed to block the onslaught, but at the cost of losing balance and fell hard onto the wooden floor of the make-shift training hall that the two fighters were in. It was just the typical morning ritual for the two, training at the break of dawn for an hour before taking on the events of their normally hectic days.

Training...well that's what it was supposed to be after all, but the woman in front of him always managed to turn training into something more serious, in Steve's opinion anyway. The blond-haired man stared up at the former assassin that stood at his feet, glaring down at him with a small smirk planted across her lips.

"Looks like we're done here," the woman said to him and offered Steve a slender hand. "But I must admit you are getting better."

"Tch, you got lucky that time, mother," Steve replied and grabbed the trained hand of the former killer.

"Hmm, luck has nothing to do with it," Nina told him and helped her son onto his feet. "You know that you don't have to call me that."

Steve nodded and crossed his arms.

"Whatever you reckon, Nina," the boxer responded and walked over to the bench nearby, reaching for the towel that was there and wiped off the sweat that had beaded on his face. "Have you got that appointment today?"

The blonde woman squinted a little and looked away. The thought of having more needles and scans didn't quite settle with her, the marks on her arms were evidence of that. Every time she looked down at the dark bruises that had formed there, all it did was made Nina nauseous and wonder how one mark representing a curse could cause so much trouble. Months of being a laboratory specimen had left her wrecked and constantly fatigued. The lack of sleep resulted in her skin complexion being slightly paler than usual, making the dark circles under her eyes more noticeable, but the muscle tone and physical strength still remained as Nina maintained the body that many years of training had honed it into.

"I feel like a bloody pin cushion, I'm beginning to think he's enjoying injecting needles into my body." Nina sighed before glaring at Steve, who was chuckling to himself. "What?"

Steve seized his chuckling and threw the towel over his shoulder.

"I'd never thought that a hardened assassin such as yourself would be worried about tiny needle pricks," he mocked her, a cocky grin appeared on his features.

"Tch, you do know that I have been out of action for quite sometime," Nina replied as she scowled at him. "I can still get contracts whenever I want, it's just hard with the Zaibatsu to take care of...and there's that damned ninja tracking my every move."

Even though most of the population had forgiven the actions of Jin and the Mishima Zaibatsu, the organisation was placed under surveillance. This had put the minds of those that were still critical of the Zaibatsu at ease, figuring that if at least one of the major players of the war was restricted, then all hell won't break loose again. But only if they really knew what was going on behind the scenes.

"They all think they can sleep soundly at night, just because we're being watched. Guess we have to behave ourselves from now on," Nina continued and glanced out of a tiny window to her left, to where the sun was starting to seep through. "Looks like it's time for us to go, can't keep him waiting for too long."

"You sure sound excited about that meeting with him," Steve said as he watched Nina walk past him to the showers.

She stopped at the doorway and looked over her shoulder with an unamused glance. Today was just going to be full excitement, she could tell in a sarcastic sort of way. Tests, meetings and dealing with someone who constantly disappears like a magician. Indeed, this is what the life of Nina Williams had turned into. It's certainly different from the life of an assassin that she had once lived.

"Hmph, best to get it over and done with since that guy doesn't seem to stay in one place for too long," his mother replied and proceeded to enter the shower room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

A/N: By the way, the title will be unconsciously explored in the next chapter. Please note that this will be a darker story compared to "The Devil's Bodyguard."


	2. The Four Devils

**Chapter Two: The Four Devils**

_Location: Gargoyle Tower- Nina's Office_

_Time: 0800hrs_

A solitary figure leaned up against the desk at the end of the darkened room, his arms crossed and head bowed as he looked around at the ground. Raven had always wondered why the woman would work in such an environment, with the only light that was emitted was from the computer screens and various monitors that were in the room. He was always curious since the two of them formed this so-called association, but had never asked the question knowing that the former assassin didn't like it when people interfered with her business.

The sound of automatic doors and hushed voices made Raven turn his head, noticed that they were open. The ninja gave a small smirk at the sight of the blonde woman, who he had been waiting for during the past hour, as she sauntered in alongside a striking, tall blond man. Nina and Steve had stopped their discussion upon noticing that Raven was in the room and they took up their respective positions as per normal whenever the ninja met with them. Nina sat behind her desk, leg crossed with the short black skirt that she wore rode up a little on her thighs and exposed more creamy white skin, while Steve stood beside her on the right. Raven pushed himself off the desk and turned around, recrossing his arms and stared right into the woman in front of him through the darkness of his glasses.

All the sudden the temperature of the room seemed to drop in Raven's opinion. Despite having the tough outer shell of a ninja, it couldn't protect him from the cold, deadly gaze from a set of blue eyes that could easily kill a person. On top of that was the mark that was bored on the inside of her right forearm, staring back at him with intimidation. That alone was enough to send a chill up his spine, but the dark-skinned man wasn't prepared to let it show.

"You said that you have some important information that you wish to present to me," Nina said evenly and leaned back in her chair. "Just remember that I don't like playing games, so it better be important."

Raven snapped out of his daze and lightly cleared his throat, before revealing a tiny flash drive in between his left index and middle fingers.

"This should provide the reason why I'm here," he said, holding out his hand towards Steve.

Swallowing his throat, the boxer nodded and wandered over, under Nina's watchful gaze, to accept the tiny device that was offered. He shot the ninja one quick look, into the barrier of the dark sunglasses, before turning his back and returned to his position next to the blonde woman behind the desk, at her right hand and handed the retrieved device to his mother. Of course she accepted it and took a moment to study the glossy black object between her fingers, wondering what mystery it may hold. Without a second thought, the former assassin inserted it into a slot on the hard-drive and the screens of the room flicked on, illuminating the office. Nina sat back in her chair and crossed her legs, pressing a button as images appeared on the screen. The images were video footage of what appeared to be some kind of laboratory, with men in white coats on screen beside a large tank of that contained some sort of specimen.

"What are we meant to be looking at?" Steve asked as he leaned closer to one of the monitors on the desk. "It's just an ordinary laboratory, right?"

Raven crossed his arms and looked around at the multiple screens around the room.

"This footage was taken approximately three days ago," he answered monotonously. "The specimen in the tank was found out by my team in desert near Azazel's temple about a few days later after Azazel's demise, half-buried beneath the sand…"

"Azazel's temple?" Nina interrupted, her eyes brightened up in wonder. "What was it?"

"Keep watching," the ninja told her. "It will appear on screen in a moment."

Something had happened, Nina could sense that and just thinking about made the mark on her arm burn. Next to her, Steve could sense the discomfort. The young man could see that Nina's teeth were clenched tight, fearing that they would break under the pressure. The blonde woman felt her son's gaze fixed solely on her and she quickly moved her attention to him. Her composure quickly returned when she noticed the worried expression that he wore and nodded reassuringly.

The former assassin looked back at the screen as one of the white-coated men ricocheted past the security camera, the sickening sound of flesh and bone hitting metal followed. A horrifying roar was heard and explosions mixing with the screams of the scientists. Nina couldn't understand what would have caused an ordinary, peaceful laboratory to transform into chaos and destruction within mere moments. In the image before her, flames had engulfed the entire room. Scientists were sprawled everywhere, lifeless as the place continued to burn like a furnace and release the scent of burning flesh into the heated atmosphere. Of course that wouldn't matter, and the free cremation would be cheaper than to host a funeral.

"What in bloody hell…?" Steve began to question the footage in front of him, well that was until…

"Wait, I just saw something…" Nina interjected quickly and stopped the playback. "Just let me go back a few seconds."

With a press of a button, the video played back slowly. Frame by frame, Nina watched on intensely. Eventually something had drawn the attention of the boxer that was next to her as he pointed to the screen. The blonde woman pressed a button on the keypad and stopped the rewind on the footage. Instantly, she knew that this was what she saw just previously. A darkened figure appeared before the camera, with a pair of red glowing eyes peeping out of the shadow and the outline of what appeared to be a couple of large wings.

"…What is that?!" Steve asked incredulously and looked down at his mother. "Do you know anything about this?"

Nina, who appeared to be deep in thought, shook her head negatively. To be honest, she had a few theories behind what was shown before her, but the former assassin dismissed them until she knew for certain. Those eyes that leered through the security camera, made her think that perhaps that they were dealing with more than just some laboratory experiment that has gone rouge.

'What in the world were they doing?' Nina thought and leaned forward to look more closely at the image. 'What was the specimen?'

The violent red gaze made Nina's blood start to stir, pulsing through her veins and the mark on her arm began to glow. All the sudden, a small discomfort crept up her right arm until it exploded. Nina gritted her teeth as the pain heightened and instantly she gripped where her mark was located. At that moment her entire arm felt like it was on fire and she was forced to tighten her jaw to refrain from screaming.

"Nina!" Steve called to her as the woman collapsed onto her knees.

She couldn't hear him, or anything else for that matter. The last thing that she heard was an inhuman scream, not realising that the scream was hers before she slipped into the darkness.

* * *

_Location: Unknown_

_Time: Unknown_

_Her blonde head was bowed as she stood there in silence. Nothing was there in that black empty void, leaving the woman to be in the company of a voice belonging to someone or something that wasn't even there. _

"_I feel your blood boiling," the demonic voice spoke. "You scream for release!" _

_Nina's eyes opened quickly and she gazed around frantically. Where was the source of the voice coming from? _

"_Who is that?! Show yourself!" Nina screamed. _

_The voice chuckled manically, it was enough to send a chill down the spine of the normally hardened woman. She didn't exactly know how to feel then. Terrified because she was in the unknown or pissed off because being in the unknown, with a voice with no owner, was frustrating. If it was any normal person they would be praying for a quick death before they lost their sanity. _

"_Have you forgotten about me? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since we hadn't spoken for quite some time."_

_Haven't spoken to one another in a long time? That was the question that ran around Nina's head as she attempted to hypothesise the situation. Eventually, something clicked in her mind and enabled the former assassin to put the pieces of the puzzle together._

"_You bastard, why the hell aren't you dead?!" Nina roared out into empty space. "Show yourself you coward!"_

"_Yes, let the anger and hate flow through you and reveal your true self…the Devil inside wants to be freed and still you resist your fate. Why?" _

_The answer from Nina was simple, she had fought alongside Jin in his quest to put an end to this evil curse. There was no way that she would allow Devil to manipulate her and use her body as a tool to engulf the world in chaos and destruction. If that were to happen, then Jin's sacrifice would have been in vain and achieved nothing. _

_Since Azazel's demise, Nina stopped hearing Devil's voice despite still having it inside her very being, as indicated by the mark on her arm. It was a comforting feeling, not having that voice ringing in her mind during nearly every waking hour. Constant taunting and attempts to provoke her to give in was a constant frustration, Nina had always wondered how Jin was able to deal with it and keep his Devil side in check. She was lucky enough, though, not to allow Devil to fully take over…well that was up until a few months ago with that incident in her office. _

"_I will never give in to you," Nina pushed out through gritted teeth. "I set out to finish what Jin aimed to do... to send you back into the depths of hell."_

"_Oh, really?" Devil's mocking voice rang through the woman's ears once again. _

_A purple aura appeared before Nina, followed by a bright light. She was blinded and forced to cover her eyes as the stung from the sensation, like sand being rubbed in them. Eventually the light disappeared and the stinging stopped. The former assassin opened her eyes, finally seeing her nemesis for the first time. The demonic being before her sapphire eyes stood tall, wings outstretched and a dark purple just like the rest of its body. Upon seeing this entity in front of her, something clicked in Nina's mind. She began to recall the battle at the ruins of the Honmaru all those months ago, between Jin and his father. She could clearly remember, along with the pain of her injuries, of both father and son in their Devil forms. The Devil in front of her closely resembled Kazuya, with similar facial structure and even the jet black hair was identical. Just looking at it made Nina wish even more that she was successful in that assassination attempt over twenty years ago. _

_She tore her eyes away, seeking refuge by staring down at her feet, but the presence was still there. It had sent a chill up her spine, knowing that beast was probably looking her down, to intimidate and force the woman to give into submission. No, Nina was a strong woman, strong enough to resist and to keep that bastard from playing games with her mind. _

"_I will put an end to this, and make Jin's death worth something," she spoke, her voice hard and cold before she glanced back up. "You can hurt me all you want, but you'll never break me."_

_Devil laughed once Nina was finished. Turning its back to her, Devil shook its head and grinned evilly. _

"_By defeating Azazel, the Devil's presence hasn't vanished, it still exists in all that had it. You, Kazama and the other, you all still have it," Devil explained. "You would be foolish to end it all. The cost would be too great."_

"_What?! Wait, what do you mean?"_

_Her question never reached Devil, who disappeared in a burst of light. Nina's head began to hurt, her vision blurred. The next thing that came was absolute darkness as she slipped back into the unconsciousness. _

* * *

_Location: Gargoyle Tower- Nina's Quarters_

_Time: 2017hrs_

Sapphire eyes snapped open and sharp breath hitchedas Nina's body snapped into an upright position. She gazed around her surroundings, quickly calming her breathing. Sighing, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and cupped her face in her hands.

'Another nightmare…bloody hell this is getting ridiculous,' Nina thought bitterly.

She began to wonder how she ended up in her quarters, only remembering that she blacked out when the pain from her mark began to radiate. Then there was that dream, with Devil and remembering the last thing that was said. From her knowledge and from what Jin had told her, there were only three Devils that she knew of, of which two of them is dead. Jin killed Jinpachi Mishima, who was in his Devil form, so that possibility was completely out of the question. Then Kazuya was defeated recently and now his Devil side resides in Nina. Then there was Jin, who was last seen falling into that hole in the ground with Azazel before a beam of light burst out from it, of which Nina was certain that no one could have survived. But who was this other that Devil spoke of? It didn't make sense, and then it spoke of Jin as if he was still alive. Lars was right there when that beam shot out of the hole and into the sky, he watched as Jin plummeted into its depths. Nina at the time was nearby, arriving at the entrance just as the raven-haired man launched himself into Azazel.

"Dammit…" she cursed and stood up, walking to the doorway nearby and switched the light on in the bathroom.

Entering the small room, she closed the door behind her and approached the basin and leaned forward, gripping the edge. Slowly, Nina gazed into the mirror and almost didn't recognise her reflection. How long has it been since she got a descent nights sleep? In truth, she hadn't slept all that well since…well before she and Jin left for Egypt. Some nights it was even harder to get to sleep, often resulting in having a few glasses of scotch in order to have some sort of an anaesthetic effect. But even so, it sometimes wasn't enough to keep her out, often waking up before dawn.

The toll of the war, of everything, was evident on her face. Her normally golden blonde hair was a couple of shades paler, her face was thinner but still managed to hold on to those features that made enhanced her beauty. The porcelain skin was paled, with faint dark rings formed under her eyes from the lack of sleep. But still, she manages to keep up her training to remain in fighting form, probably was the only thing other than work to occupy her mind. Nina wanted to be same person that she always was, a strong and an independent woman. It was even more important now that she kept that image, now that she was in charge of the organisation that was cleaning up the mess left from the war. The soldiers were relying on her leadership to guide them, to lead them just as Jin had before her…

Dammit…

Tearing her eyes away from her reflection, Nina stripped her clothes and turned the water on in the shower. Not waiting for it to warm up, she stepped inside and winced as the cold spray hit her bare skin. Looking herself over, she realised that since the war she had lost some of what little softness she had on her body. She guessed that it was probably due to the intensity of the training and the lack of sleep that did it. These moments by herself were the worst, her mind always drifted back to memories of her and Jin. Despite the cool, hardened exterior that she had maintained in front of everyone else, that disappeared once she was alone. To tell the truth, Nina missed him and never had she thought that she would become attached to anyone else other than her father. For what had started out as a high paying job as his bodyguard, Nina began to realise that they had been through similar pains in their past. The loss of a parent at a young age and constant fighting among family created a foundation of understanding between the two. Eventually that understanding brought them closer and eventually it grew into something more.

Love…Nina had to laugh at herself, it was a feeling that the former assassin never thought that she would experience. For her entire adult life, she was constantly on the move by herself, taking out contracts for money as a hired assassin. With that, there was never time for emotional or romantic entanglement with anyone, her job came before everything else. Everything that she did, right until the end of the fifth tournament was to survive. To Nina, people were just another object in the way of doing just that, or they were just a target. Hell, she was about to gun down her own son for goodness sake!

However, Jin somehow changed her views, getting her to trust the people around her. She reconciled with Steve, learned to deal with his friends even to the point of not wanting to shoot Paul Phoenix every time she saw him. But most of all, she had learned to love, and that was what she had felt for Jin.

"Fuck…" she cursed through gritted teeth.

Angry at herself for feeling weak, Nina slammed a fist into the tiled wall of the shower, feeling a couple of her knuckles crack. Great, along with her increasing insanity she had two broken knuckles in her left hand to deal with.

"Hey, anyone alive in there?"

Nina snapped out of her thoughts as a familiar voice came from just outside her bathroom door. Quickly, she shut off the shower and stepped out. She grabbed the robe that hung from the back of the door, slipping it on gracefully and reached out for a towel to dry her hair. She did this as she opened the door, her prediction correct as Steve stood there with an amused look on his face.

"If you were in there any longer I was considering calling a search and rescue operation," he joked and watched as his mother strode across the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Forever the comedian," Nina muttered and glanced at him. "How did you get in here anyway? I had the door locked."

Instantly, Steve flashed Nina's key card and placed it on a table nearby. He walked over and sat down beside her.

"Well your room hasn't got the executive level of security, so I would have been able to get in with mine anyway," Steve explained, the joking tone completely gone. "Sometimes I wonder why you just don't move up to the executive quarters, you are the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu after all."

Nina scoffed and gave a small smile.

"I like to keep things simple, too much space for my liking anyway," she replied, slightly amused. "Anyway, I'm guessing that you're here to check up on me?"

The young man sighed and stood up, stretching his arms upwards into the air and then relaxed.

"Well you did just blackout and were unconscious for most of the day. Do you remember anything?"

Nina shook her head, she couldn't remember much from before she lost consciousness. There was only the burning in her arm and demonic scream before she opened her eyes, trapped in that empty void as the familiar voice of Devil spoke to her, eventually showing up in physical form. Things were said to her, for Nina to figure out for herself before a white light beamed suddenly out of nowhere. It was unlike her previous encounters with the entity.

"No, not really," Nina replied and held her forehead with one palm as if she was experiencing a headache. "Dammit, it is just like suffering amnesia from my first round of cryogenic sleep all over again…is Raven gone?"

Steve nodded and crossed his arms over his muscular chest.

"Yeah, he left just after you went out cold. He said that he's gonna continue investigating the incident further, including what we saw on the footage."

A beep from nearby drew Nina's attention from the conversation. She craned her head towards her private terminal on a table to the right, it usually only went off if there was a message from the very few contacts that she had. There were only three people that knew her address. One of them was with her at the moment, so it wasn't possible that Steve sent her anything. Raven was the other, but he only sent her messages if he found something worthy of Nina's immediate attention. So that meant, there was only one other possibility, someone that she hadn't spoken to in about two and a half months.

Not wasting anymore time, Nina rose from the foot of the bed and strode over to the computer. The bright light of the screen stung her eyes a little in that dimmed room, but quickly she adjusted as she sat down and crossed one leg over the other. As predicted, a dialogue box appeared in the middle of the display and once she saw the sender, her suspicions were confirmed.

"Open message," Nina spoke to the terminal and the display changed once the message was revealed.

Blue eyes scanned the message, word by word and letter by letter, not wanting to miss out on any vital information. Steve, who was still standing near the bed, realised that it was obviously important, judging by the serious look on his mother's face. Eventually Nina reached the end of the entry, getting up onto her feet and quickly made her way towards her wardrobe.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, curiously. "Who was it from?"

Nina opened her wardrobe and started to rummage through it.

"Go and get armoured up and have a small squad ready," Nina informed him, not looking back. "We're going to go meet an old friend of ours."

The boxer raised an eyebrow and watched as Nina pulled out a very familiar purple camouflaged bodysuit. Whenever she pulled out that particular item, Steve knew that something dangerous was about to happen.

"Are you sure you should be going out?" he asked worriedly. "You were out cold for nearly an entire day."

Nina walked over to her bed and carefully placed down a small arsenal of weapons, consisting of a couple of daggers, a hunter's knife, a 9mm pistol and a sub-machine gun. Steve's eyes widened, wondering whether she had an armoury set up in her wardrobe. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised to find some sort of grenade or rocket launcher hidden amongst her clothes. He made a mental note to never go through any of his mother's things, especially when her wardrobe or storage spaces are concerned.

"I'm fine, I doubt I will be blacking out again any time soon," the former assassin replied and wandered to her bathroom and closed the door once she was inside. "You better go and get geared up, meet up in the garage with the squad in about fifteen minutes!"

Sighing, Steve shook his head in amusement. How many leaders of an international organisation would still go out and get their hands dirty? Obviously the life as a CEO hadn't completely driven the assassin and vigilante out of Nina Williams yet. Since taking over, she would still go out on missions and oversee operations. Steve would usually go with her, and has learned at unprecedented speed to where he had the opportunity to lead a handful of operations on his own. Most of them were just cleaning up, while Nina still handled the more dangerous stuff, such as any G-Corporation factions attempting to raid high-security laboratories. Even though the war had been over for quite some time, G-Corporation were resorting to the occasional raids on high-security laboratories owned by the Mishima Zaibatsu. This had made Steve wonder whether if they were involved this time, they would have to be if it was to draw Nina's attention.

Not waiting around anymore, Steve rushed out of the room and the door closed shut behind him. The room was silent, other than the sound of the terminal running as the message was still displayed on the screen.

_Nina,_

_My squad had received word on a recent raid at laboratory #210. I don't know the extent of the damage, but we are not going to take any chances and need reinforcements. This could be something big, especially if those bastards hit that particular lab. Please come ASAP, bring a squad and plenty of firepower. This could be a lead into why they are attacking these laboratories. _

_L.A._

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, things were busy with university in regards to final assignments and exams. But I'm finished for the year and hopefully I'll try to get this moving once again. Also, I had to re-plan a few things for this fic after getting some ideas from TTT2, but most of that won't be revealed until the final stages of the story. Plus, I'm starting to rewrite my old FF8 fics, so updates may vary. Anyway, thanks for your patience and I will begin writing the next chapter soon. **


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